The present invention relates generally to containers having a container body for accommodating foods and two pairs of cover flaps for closing an opening of the container body. More particularly, the present invention relates to multifunctional flaps on the containers in which a pair of inner flaps are interconnectable with each other to receive a spoon, a fork, a straw, napkins, or the like, or are anchorable to side walls of the container body, and in which a pair of outer flaps are either engageable with each other to receive chopsticks and permit clasping by a user's fingers, or interconnectable with each other to close the opening of the container body.
Containers, such as carry-out containers, take-away containers, doggy bags, etc. for accommodating foods are common and generally comprise a container body and a pair of inner flaps and a pair of outer flaps both integrally formed on a corresponding peripheral edges of the body. In addition, a wire handle of metallic material, generally provided on the container body and fastened across a pair of side walls thereof, may be required in order that the container can be carried by human hands. The provision of the wire handle on the container body, as known in this art, is somewhat complicated, involving the operation of providing hook-holes on the side walls of the body and then fastening two ends of the wire handle to the hook-holes. While this prior art container works well to a certain extent, there are still disadvantages and limitations associated with the provision of the wire handle remaining to be improved.
For example, in the above prior art container, the wire handle fastened to the container body for easy grasping will have to be removed before the container is disposed in a micro-wave. This is inconvenient and might accidentally spoil the contents of the container, or even result in the danger of hurting oneself. Also, in the case that the container body is tilted, when holding the wire handle, due to a misaligned or deflected position of the hook-holes on the walls of the body, the contents, e.g., soup, is liable to flow out. Further, since the positions of the hook-holes cannot be seen from inside of the container body, it is not uncommon that soup might leak from these hook-holes if the soup within the body occupies a level above that of the hook-holes. The hook-holes therefore further undesirably confine a quantity of soup that the container body can accommodate to be below a certain level. Since the wire handle is made of metal, e.g., iron, it will gradually become rusted, during storage before or after use, due to moisture when exposed under atmosphere.
Accordingly, there is a need to do without the metal wire handle on containers, while still retaining its intended purpose for easy take and carry. It is found that the flaps of the containers can serve to achieve this instead of the introduction of a separate metal wire handle. By reconfiguring the inner and outer flaps to have an engaging means and a hand-accessible means integrally formed thereon, respectively, the use of a wire handle is obviated and associated problems with the wire handle in prior art are removed.
In providing a container having novel flaps which prevent the above-mentioned disadvantages, it is further found that many advantages not available by the use of a wire handle, or even unknown in prior art, can be obtained by reconfiguration or design of the inner and outer flaps. For example, since the hand-accessible means is integrally formed on the outer flaps, the load consisting of the container body and its contents will be evenly supported due to the line contact between the outer flaps and corresponding peripheral edges of the container body. The hand-accessible means, when interconnecting the outer flaps with each other, preferably forms a flat bottom surface so that user's fingers can suitably carry the container from below the bottom surface. Also, the engaging means, which can interconnect the inner flaps with each other (thereby closing an opening of the container body), is engageable with a pair of the side walls of the body so that the inner flaps are anchorable to the body, thereby providing easy access to the contents thereof. On the inner flaps, and optionally on the outer flaps, slits of various shapes may be provided to receive, cooperatively or directly, a fork, spoon, straw, utensil, napkin, chopsticks, etc., so that they can be provided together with the container.